Conversation requires that listeners trust speakers to follow certain conventions. To make conversation efficient, both speakers and listeners must cooperate in communicating with each other. Philosopher H. Paul Grice devised a set of maxims (general principles to follow) regarding conversation.
1. Be relevant
Perhaps the most important rule is that your utterances must be relevant to the current topic at hand; this is known as the maxim of relevance. Going off-topic constantly will provoke displeasure with your fellow participants.
Example that violates this rule:
A: How's the weather today?
B: There's a nice film opening at the theater tonight.
A very extreme and obvious example, speaker B's response has absolutely nothing to do with speaker A's question.
Violation of this rule is quite useful in order to force a subject change, as seen below. [caution: don't try this at home! ☺ ]
C: Are you ever going to pay back the money I lent you?
D: It's very hot outside, isn't it?
2. Provide enough, but not too much or too little, information
Speakers should give enough information as necessary in order to understand the current conversation, but not provide more information than expected. This is known as the maxim of quantity, giving just the right amount of details so that the conversation flows smoothly.
Example that violates this rule:
Customer: Excuse me, how much is that television?
Salesperson: $600 dollars. The hi-def DVD player is $300, and that MP3 player over there is $200.
As you can see, marketers and salespeople love to violate this rule!
3. Be orderly
Avoid ambiguity by mentioning events in the order they happened; this is known as the maxim of manner.
In English, speakers are accustomed to hearing events in chronological order. (Note that in some other languages, word order isn't as important.) This is why "We got married and had a baby", and "We had a baby and got married" have different meanings altogether.
Example that violates this rule:
On a resume/CV: I received my Ph.D. in 2001, graduated high school in 1990, and received my M.A. in 1996.
4. Be truthful
Pretty much self-explanatory, speakers should always tell the truth; this is the maxim of quality.
Ironically, this rule is the one that makes lying possible, since without this rule, we wouldn't have any reason to believe that the truth is being uttered. This rule is violated on purpose for a lot of reasons, one of which is sarcasm, as seen in the below example.
Example that violates this rule:
A: I love working all day in the heat without any breaks!
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